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Success! eBooks syncing with Sony eReader PRS-600

September 15, 2009 — Leesa

In my first post about my Sony eReader PRS-600 Touch, I mentioned some problems I had syncing up some small press eBooks I purchased by CindyJacks. I also found I had some problems with syncing up free chapters of the book Heat Wave by fictional character, Richard Castle, from ABC’s Castle TV series.

Ellen, A commenter on my first post, asked about ebookstores that worked in Canada. In searching for solutions (I didn’t have a lot of luck), I found Mobileread.com that looked interesting and I added it to my RSS feed. A thread came up talking about a new ebookstore Shortcovers.com that offered ePUB books. In checking it out, I saw the store was offering a free book. I love free! In order to get the book onto my Sony Touch, I had to install Adobe Digital Editions and use that library software to transfer to my Touch directly. Once I figured out I could add PDF and ePUB books to the Adobe Digital Editions library I had stored on my hard drive it struck me that I could use the same method to transfer my “trouble” books.

Sure enough, this worked! So the problem is with the Sony eBook Library and not the PRS-600 Touch. I’m very happy now that I can support more small press authors. I also was able to transfer some PDF versions of some technical communication magazines I’m subscribed to as well as various other reference material PDFs I created myself.

In other eReader news, I finished my first ebook, Charlaine Harris’s Dead Until Dark, the first book in the Sookie Stackhouse series. I look forward to reading more in the series.

I haven’t had as much luck finding any one bookstore that sells magazines for the eReader. I haven’t browsed much for it at Amazon either.

However, there are some tech writing magazines I have access to via membership to STC that I can download in PDF format that transfer great to the Sony eReader, so I imagine that certain magazines out there likely have this function, but you’d have to take the tedious route and go to each mag’s website to find out specifics if they even offer content in PDF form.

I’ve not liked the blog feature of the eReader either. It doesn’t have the dates on the posts and is basically just plain text

Thanks Leesa, also having trouble with the reader being seen on adobe digital editions so when we want to download in that format we don’t see our reader. Rob has a new MAC with snow leopard which is the newest operating system we are wondering if it might have something to do with that.

Thanks, great stuff.
But, I’m still having trouble with the sync. Every time I plug in the reader to the computer, a sync error lights up and continues until I unplug. It stops me from doing anything else.
Any suggestions? I’ve reset many times.

Nadine, if you happen to run across this thread, I just wanted to let you know that calibre-ebook.com has a lot of magazines that can be downloaded. I’ve downloaded a few and enjoy what I have so far. Good luck!

Bob, I’m not sure what to do here. Do you have the most recent software for the Sony Reader Library/eBook Store?

Your sync problem is really troubling as you have to be able to eject/unhook from the software before you can uplug from the computer.

What do you see on your ebook when it is connected to the computer? There are one of two messages along the bottom just above your buttons: “Do not disconnect” and, if you disconnect/eject from the Sony library software, “USB connected.”

When you connect to the computer, do any windows come up asking you if you want to install the eLibrary software or to ask what software you want to use?

Another question is can you see your ebook in the Sony library software? If not, have you tried downloading Adobe Digital Editions, and if so, can you see your ereader in their file listings?

I’d hate to think you have a faulty ereader! But if so, I hope you can return it for a new one. I’m hoping this isn’t the case though, because it’d be a lot more fun if you could just get to reading on your device. :)

If you do end up finding the solution, let me know. I’m sure others who might find their way to this blog might be helped by your findings.

Leesa,
Yup, I’ve got the most recent software.
When the ebook is hooked up to the computer, the message is “do not disconnect.” This is not surprising as the sync status icon is rotating. It rotates forever.
Yes, when I hook the reader up to the computer it asks if I want to install the software, which is strange, because I’ve already installed the software on my computer.
Yes, I can see my ebook on the library software. Most of the time. Sometimes, I get an error message and I have to restart the library.
This perpetual “sync error” is beyond my ken, and tomorrow, I’m going back to BestBuy and getting a new Reader.
I don’t mind starting all over again, but if the same problem pops up, I’m thinking Kindle or Nook.
Thanks for your help.
Bob

Hi Bob, I’m not sure if that’s the same problem I was having, but it’s awfully close. My sync would freeze when trying to sync certain books, and like you said, I couldn’t do anything while that was going on. I was frustrated. That’s when I went to Adobe Digital Editions and won’t let the native software do automatic syncs. I do it the drag ‘n’ drop way whether I use the Sony software or use Adobe.

Actually, I use Adobe and/or Calibre for anything I don’t buy straight from Sony to drop it into the Reader’s main folder, then go back to the Sony software and copy the book into a collection. I like my edocs sorted a certain way: magazines in one folder, fiction in another, non-fiction, etc, and I can only do that with the Sony software.

Have you gotten any books to successfully sync and does the reader work when you don’t have it plugged in to the computer?

Good luck troubleshooting this and I’m sorry I don’t know how to help! I have three friends with a Kindle and they love it. I have not personally experienced the Nook nor do I know anyone who has one, but it looks like a nice reader from what I’ve read about on the Internet.

Regardless of what you use, I hope you love the tech. I’ve had mine for over four months and I still admire how pretty and functional my reader is! I expect I’ll be needing some expansion cards soon as I collect more books. I just love that I can have many books to choose from as sometimes I just don’t know what I’ll be in the mood to read when I’m on a trip or just going out to lunch.

Hi,
I just spent 2 hours with a Sony tech and he had no luck in figuring out why you cannot sync the sony ereader with my new laptop. I purchased my sony PRS600 back in Mar of this year. Loved the product, it worked just fine with my previous laptop with the windows xp software. Just purchased a new laptop with windows 7 and am now having the sync problem. The tech at sony after two hours told me he couldn’t help me, that he was sorry but there was a problem with my anti-virus (Norton), windows 7 and the ereader. Now I also had the (Norton) anti-virus on my old laptop, so really the only difference I can see is the new operating system windows 7. If someone comes up with a solution, let me know.

After syncing with my Sony reader, the book titles show up in the reader but NOT in the library installed on my PC. I want to put the titles into various collections I have made and it won’t let me unless I do it from the library. If no books show up in the library how can I? There are 15 titles showing up on my reader and 0 in my library….
I would appreciate any help or advice you can share.

I gave up on trying to make collections. They are a lot like playlists, which I suppose is a good thing so you don’t accidentally permanently delete a book from your hard drive completely, but I didn’t like seeing the uncategorized books under Books then again in the collections. Also, Calibre (I think) takes categorizing way too far and I’d have all these collections with really super specific tags and only one book in it, plus that book would be in 10 other collections. So I just deleted them all. One day I may go back and do collections but it will take a lot of editing of the metainfo to get rid of all the super specific tags.

Adding a collection to either the library or the reader works the same way back and forth. Single click on either Library or Reader in your software. Then at the lower left of the software click the big + sign. A folder will show up like it does when adding folders in Windows, where you have to name it. Clicking on the + is NOT intuitive at all, in my opinion. If I understand your question, you already know how to create a collection, but I figured it wouldn’t hurt to be thorough for any future readers who might not know!

As far as moving books and/or collections back and forth from the Reader to the Library, I just click on the book and/or collection and drag it up or down into the Library or Reader link until I see the plus sign inside a square that’s attached to the cursor–it should be when you hover over Library or Reader. If moving a single book, that’ll default it into the Books collection and from there you can click on the book and drag it to your collection where it’ll be a shortcut. If moving the collection, it should show up alphabetized just under the Purchased collection.